Farm parents and their successors may need to reevaluate their previous expectations as cash flows shrink in this farm recession and proposed treasury regulations limit the use of family stock discounts, cautioned Rod Mauszycki, a Minneapolis-based tax principal for CliftonLarsonAllen.

“Corn moisture, with the help of recent sunshine, is moving closer to 18 percent. We have locations that are tight on corn space. Belmond just finished filling their 1.5-million-bushel bunker and is now piling corn in other areas. Other locations are either loading a train or shuffling bushels among locations to make more room.

Generally, if a 1040 has a business loss that drives the return into negative territory, the net operating loss can be carried back two years (i.e., a 2016 tax loss carries first to 2014, then forward to 2015, and if large enough, onward to 2017, etc.). But if the loss arises from a farming business, a special five-year carryback applies.

Although she has served as a passionate surrogate for Clinton throughout the fall, she aggressively moved to circle her own wagons in such a way last month to suggest real doubt about exactly who will prevail on Nov. 8. Specifically, the First Lady fortified her cherished White House vegetable garden with concrete, stone and steel.

Bryant’s problem is the crop insurance floor keeps falling with commodity prices, exposing his farm to ever bigger losses. Ohio winter wheat producers, who face a 2017 crop insurance sale closing date of Sept. 30, will be guaranteed only $4.74 per bushel next year, down 45 percent from the same coverage four years ago.

In early August, the IRS released draft regulations that, when effective, will impose major restrictions on valuation discounts of family-controlled entities. This represents a major change in the tax system, and the clock is ticking before the new rules become final.

When the country-fried Machiavellian named James Carville was advising future President Bill Clinton to stay on message and cut to the core worry of voters in 1992, he developed a mantra for the campaign to chant its way to victory: “It’s the economy, stupid.

This continues the discussion that ran in the Aug. 15 issue on tax alternatives to assist with higher education costs. Section 529 college savings plans, already a popular tool for parents and grandparents to invest funds for a youngster’s higher education costs, were recently enhanced by Congress.

As Congress came back to Washington last Tuesday for the last legislative session before the November election, members will be under pressure to fund the government before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. However, the Zika virus may complicate the agriculture section of any appropriations bill.

A year ago, university economists warned that typical Illinois corn farmers would need to shave $100 an acre off average cash rent and production costs if they hoped to break even in 2016. Renters hesitated, landlords balked, most input suppliers held firm.

Depending upon shifting political agendas, many professional and amateur economists (past, present and future) insist that demand is much more complicated, significantly shaped, stretched, and shrunk by realities ranging from country of origin to...

Average June prices for hanwoo beef stood at 19,142 won ($16.89) per kilogram ($37.24/lb.), an increase of 20.8 percent from the previous year. Hanwoo is a local breed that shares traits with both European and African cattle breeds and its heavily marbled meat is prized by Koreans as of greater value than imported beef.

The 64-person committee announced by the campaign last Tuesday has five current members of Congress, including the chairmen of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees; as well as eight current or former governors; nine current or former

If the student is working on the farm for some part of the year, compensation can be a great tool. The student’s salary isn’t subject to income tax until it exceeds the standard deduction ($6,300 for 2016). Normally, there will be the 15.

Livestock producers who are in need of additional pasture or hay in late September and October could use an August seeding of oats for some additional forage. This system can produce extra tons of forage, but the crop needs moisture during this time and also enough time to grow before the end of the growing season.

That defense is weakening this year after university entomologists have confirmed resistance in rootworm populations to eCry3.1Ab (found in hybrids containing Duracade) in Iowa and Minnesota cornfields and lower levels of resistance to Cry34/35Ab1 (the Herculex RW trait), found in SmartStax, Acre- Max XTreme and Agrisure 3122 hybrids.

Marvin Hall, Professor of Forage Management at Pennsylvania State University, offers producers some pros and cons of storing silage in large round bales. In order to make round bale silage, the forage must be wilted to 50-60 percent moisture, then baled in a round baler, then ensiled inside a plastic cover.

I normally avoid state income tax issues in my column, given that our readership is national. But you might be amused at some of the political discussion in Minnesota over the state’s latest income tax hike. And there’s a lesson to be learned about a retired farmer’s ability to escape a high-taxing state.

Some alfalfa growers in the western part of the South Dakota have not been able to even get a first cutting yet, according to Karla Hernandez, Extension Forages Field Specialist at the South Dakota State University Extension, Watertown Regional Center.

Agriculture’s 24/7 workload poses special issues for payroll. Most farmers assume they are not required to pay overtime for any farm work performed by their employees, points out Paul Neiffer, a CPA with CliftonLarsonAllen in Yakima, WA. But given the new rules imposed by the Department of Labor (DOL) starting Dec.

In Midwestern areas such as Nebraska, the major effect on alfalfa growers has been delays in first cutting, which could lead to some loss in quality, according to Bruce Anderson, Professor of Agronomy and Extension Forage Specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The so-called extender legislation late in 2015 made permanent the provision allowing a retiree to move funds directly from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to a charity without income recognition. The key feature is that these transfers count for the annual Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) that every IRA holder over age 70.

Sometimes called butterweed, the winter annual often springs up in no-till corn and soybean fields. Burndown herbicides are typically used to control it early in the spring when the plants are smaller and more susceptible, but that’s not an option in forage and wheat crops.

I get this question about once a month: Mom is moving to assisted living, her house is being sold, and the attorney said we should see our tax adviser. If Mom owned and occupied the home as her principal residence for at least two of the five years preceding the sale, the first $250,000 of gain on the sale is tax-free in her 1040.

trust then conducts the sale. In the case of machinery, the trust would be the temporary owner of the machinery and arrange the auction. The proceeds from the grain sale or the machinery auction come into the trust taxfree and are held by the trustee to pay the income amount at the specified dates (e.

start in more ways than one. Not only is seasonal beef demand experiencing great difficulty in locating the first rung on the ladder to Memorial Day, neither one of our major political parties seems to be making real progress in crowning a presidential nominee.

A key definition in the tax law involves growing. An agricultural operation that’s conducting crop or animal production is classified as a farmer. Activities that only provide services to an agricultural producer aren’t farming.

Phil Seng, President and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), said the time is not ripe to make any volume increase forecast for exports to Japan, but the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) will surely enhance the competitiveness of

As many Midwest farmers do after the corn harvest in the fall, Daren Niemeyer grazes his beef cows on his corn stalks. The Bladen, NE, farmer uses the leftover crop residue as inexpensive feed for his cows and also for the benefits he believes it has for next year’s crop.

I have my own health insurance and pay the premiums with my own after-tax dollars. I thought I could deduct the premiums on line 29 of my 1040, but am now told that the premiums must be run through the LLC and counted as guaranteed payment income to me from the LLC.

Howard Buffett wants farmers to voluntarily embrace more conservation practices before they risk facing more regulatory control. Buffett also said last Thursday he opposes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) controversial waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, saying it may be impossible for farmers to comply with it.

In the situation you describe, assuming the decedent held 100 percent of the property, the heir or heirs can sell with modest capital gain tax if the sale price is close to the appraised value of the property at date of death.

The outlook for ag credit conditions deteriorated sharply in late 2015, based on a fourth-quarter survey by the Kansas City Federal Reserve. Bankers expected a surge of farm loan demand and loan renewals and the steepest drop in repayment rates in the last decade, the survey found.

“I’m not sure we can continue to ignore the fact that there are restrictions to how we use some of these herbicides if we then follow up with an annual forage crop,” Iowa State University Extension Beef Specialist Joe Sellers told growers and livestock owners in a webinar hosted by the Practical Farmers of Iowa Feb.

As separate proprietors, we each get a full $500,000 limitation. Our crop insurance and government program payments are individual. All of our machinery is identified as purchased by an individual but is paid for out of an account for the group. Is this arrangement OK?

and the Senate. Meanwhile, on the legal side, it could be some time before the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, OH, determines whether it has jurisdiction to hear multiple legal challenges to the rule that agriculture and other industries fear will expand federal jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay said that Canada opposes the U.S. Agriculture Department’s plan to set up standards for a voluntary country-of-origin labeling (COOL) program for beef and pork, but the subject did not come up when MacAulay met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently.

Five months ago when farmers were looking ahead to a grim 2016, “we thought we would see a lot of pressure on cash rents,” recalled Jim Farrell, President of Farmers National Company in Omaha. “But in reality, most professionally-managed cash rents are staying even or are down 5-8 percent.

A Morgan Stanley survey of commercial insurance brokers shows a 12.6 percent increase for individual insurance policies in 2016 and a 13.5 percent increase for small group rates. But some ag producers are grappling with steeper increases.

Albert Einstein supposedly remarked that the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. That may have been a quick quip back then. If he were around today and encountering the individual retirement account (IRA) distribution rules, he’d be dead serious.

The cost is a variable, depending on the types of assets transferred and your attorney fees to draft the documents. The IRS has issued sample pre-approved CRT documents, which makes it easier for the attorney (see Rev. Proc. 2003- 54).

“What’s interesting to us is U.S. farm assets versus debts,” McBride said. “As a banker, one of the things we focus on is, does anybody get over-leveraged when their financial situation changes? We feel generally that farmers are in solid shape financially.

It’s 1040 time, and the farm client slides a new Schedule K-1 across the desk, explaining, “I invested in my brother-in-law’s used car dealership in California.” My inner voice of experience is thinking: I’ve just heard three facts and they’re all trouble.

is outstanding, he said, averaging 215 bushels per acre (bpa). Although irrigated yields were more typical at about 230 bpa, his wholefarm corn yield average will likely be a record. Moisture is averaging around 14 percent with test weights of 62 pounds per bushel.

El Niño is the term used to describe a large-scale warming of the equatorial Pacific waters, along with an atmospheric circulation which results in sustained west-to-east low-latitude jet stream winds. The current El Niño was first identified in March of this year.

The initial results were good, but his sandy soils couldn’t sustain fertility and erosion started to take hold. Unperturbed, and armed with initial recommendations from Brazil’s state crop research institute (Embrapa), Mathias started to experiment with alternating beans and cattle.

Fed cattle prices declined more than $20 per cwt. from late August to early October, and early estimates of September losses are as high as $350 per head, according to Purdue University Ag Economics Professor Michael Langemeier. If the trend continues, October losses could soar to $550 per head.

The economy hit the skids about the time we formed the partnership, and for most years the Schedule K-1 allocations were insignificant. There really was not any profit until 2015. This year the company made a large sale, and my share of the profit is in excess of $300,000.

Forty-one years ago this summer, Gerald Ford stared into the barrel of constitutional chaos and recited the shredded remains of the presidential oath. With pardon in pocket, Tricky Dick (Nixon) tearfully waved from his helicopter and the threatening sluices of Watergate began shutting down.

base corn acre, while those in a county next door will collect nothing. In Nebraska, some checks will run $20 an acre, others closer to $80 an acre. Similar situations are cropping up in Kansas, Iowa and Illinois, in large part because of the local variation in 2014 yields, policy experts report.

Grain farmers approaching retirement face an ugly reality: a lot of grain to sell but no cropping expenses to provide a tax offset. If that carryover grain is in the $500,000-$1 million territory, spreading the sales over several years doesn’t avoid high tax rates.

Finishing steers can be made a little more economical without sacrificing performance, according to a recent University of Nebraska feeding trial that examined the effects of replacing corn in finishing beef diets with a newly developed, treated corn stover/distillers grain pelleted product.

Among the provisions in the Grain Standards Act is language that would ensure grain inspections at export facilities will continue in the event of a disruption, such as the battle over inspections last year during a labor lockout at a grain terminal in the Pacific Northwest.

But with unrelated parties, there’s the expectation that each is protecting his or her economic interests by dealing at arm’s length. When you transact with family members, however, the IRS may question the bona fides of the deal.

Cash cattle trade was quiet today with no prices to report. Corn closed
up 5 1/2 cents in the September and up 5 1/4 cents in the December. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 390 points or 2.4% on the close.

Corn is rapidly moving through dent stage (R5). Excess rain early in the summer, shallow roots, shortages of nitrogen and a dry August have contributed to corn moving through grain fill more rapidly than expected. Any stress, including a shortened grain-fill period would reduce kernel weight by hindering dry matter accumulation.

I am assuming that all of the gain is attributable to the depreciation (i.e., you are selling the 2012 combine for less than your original cost, and the gain arises entirely from the depreciation deductions that reduced your original cost). If a machinery item is sold for more than its original cost, the excess over the purchase price is capital gain.

“We still do not know what the government will do in the future, but I am kind of sure that the government will keep the purchase program for this year with a reduced floor price, and may terminate floor price next year and let the market decide corn price,” said Jianchuan Zhou, Marketing Manager of Tieqili Feed Company in South China.

Erik Norland, an economist at CME, compared how spot futures contract prices and futures spreads for a variety of commodities behaved in the 12-24 months after National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center Oceanic Niño Index signaled the beginning of an El Niño or La Niña.

There are some comments about taxes that make me shudder. Here are five that cause me concern: • “I enjoy preparing my own return.” It’s rare, but on occasion I encounter that farm producer who does his own return. Today’s tax system is insanely complex, especially when business activity is in the mix.

USDA’s current definition of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) could deny farm families from receiving government payments if they operate as either an S corporation or Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) taxed as a partnership.

This calendar year is predicted to deliver the worst economics in grain farming in 20 years. Low grain prices and high input costs could actually lead to an operating loss, unless yields come in exceptionally high. However, this looming dark cloud may have a silver lining in the form of tax benefits.

In a statement delivered in the Rose Garden, Obama said, “In January of 1961, the year I was born, when President Eisenhower announced the termination of our relations with Cuba, he said: ‘It is my hope and my conviction that in the not-too-distant...

The House Ag Committee Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research Subcommittee held a hearing recently that was clearly intended to emphasize the role that USDA can play in biotech labeling, a question that now is in the hands of the Food and Drug Administration.

Typically, the first cutting of alfalfa is taken somewhere around Memorial Day, plus or minus a week, and the second cutting usually comes approximately five weeks later. The majority of Nebraska alfalfa growers have gotten their first cutting off, although for many of those growers the first cutting was delayed, Anderson said.

This arrangement also has estate tax risk. Given that the payments back from the children are implicitly for Grandpa’s lifetime, the IRS could also apply Section 2036 to pull the property back into his estate at death (assuming Grandpa’s net worth exceeded the estate tax exemption and the IRS had estate tax to collect also).

Two features of the 2014 farm bill’s crop insurance coverage will be expanded to winter wheat and other crops starting in 2016, US- DA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced recently. The move should aid growers besieged by extreme yield swings due to drought or excess moisture, although the benefits won’t come without higher premium costs.

“Growers have the newest fleet of equipment in the last 40 years. They can run without high repair bills,” notes Wade Litton, General Manager of Wade Inc., a John Deere dealership with 11 locations in the Mississippi Delta. Well-tooled operations combined with an abrupt collapse in grain farm incomes and uncertainty over Sec.

Beardi, who spent 22 years in the Army, said he was going through “intense therapy” for a year and a half at Walter Reed Hospital after being “blown up” in Iraq, when a Vietnam veteran picked him up twice a week and took him to a farm, where he found the physical exercise and working with animals to be therapeutic.

Crop farmers always face the balancing act of producing as many bushels as possible from their acres while at the same time protecting net income by avoiding overspending on inputs. Fertilizer is often high on the cost list. This growing season, in particular, is challenging farmers’ ability to remain profitable.

For too many, planning means a focus on next week’s activities. However, when it comes to income taxes, the perspective needs to be long-term. Today’s tax rate system is insanely complex (by design, but that’s a topic for another day). The hazard is not merely a more steeply graduated rate system; it’s also the layering of additional taxes (the 3.

What is the reasonable allocation of your purchase price to the fair market value of that tiling, given its age and condition? There is likely some fact-finding that is necessary to determine how many feet of tiling are in the ground and what is the...

Dave Ollila, a field sheep specialist for South Dakota State University Extension at the Rapid City Regional Center, said those who commingle cattle and small ruminants could see several benefits. The obvious plus would be that adding another enterprise to the operation creates more income, he said.

The questions are often the same. Does it make sense to give my land to the kids now before it becomes my estate? Or perhaps I should sell some of it during my lifetime? Or is it better to just let them inherit the land? I’ve heard these questions for years, but with our constantly changing tax system, the answers might now be different.

The study has been released shortly before the World Trade Organization (WTO) is expected to release a final ruling in a case that Canada and Mexico brought against the U.S. over COOL, charging that the labeling regime discriminates against Mexican and Canadian livestock and meat.

The U.S. could become a major exporter of agricultural products to Cuba, but current law prohibits USDA from promoting sales to Cuba, White House officials said last week in the Obama administration’s first testimony on Capitol Hill on the potential for increasing U.

On the first point, we now have tiered capital gain rates. Most pay at a 15 percent rate, but when the total taxable income in a joint return exceeds roughly $465,000, the capital gain rate moves to 20 percent (that threshold is about $413,000 for a single filer in 2015).

Despite congressional opposition, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said last Monday the Obama administration will finish the Clean Water Rule (commonly called “Waters of the U.S.” or WO- TUS) that the EPA sent to the Office of Management and Budget the prior week.

Moderate early week support has stepped back into
the complex early Monday with mixed live cattle trade now showing
narrow to moderate gains. Light buyer support is helping to hold strong
gains through lean hog futures.

The president’s State of the Union message advocated a new top 28 percent capital gain rate and partial elimination of the stepup in basis that occurs at death. That would make sales of farmland a tax disaster. However, with the Republicans controlling the House and the Senate, those proposals have little chance of enactment.

The president’s State of the Union message advocated a new top 28 percent capital gain rate and partial elimination of the stepup in basis that occurs at death. That would make sales of farmland a tax disaster. However, with the Republicans controlling the House and the Senate, those proposals have little chance of enactment.

After a trip to Cuba last week, U.S. agriculture leaders are more determined than ever to convince Congress to end the U.S. embargo on business with Cuba. However, their goals are shifting from selling U.S. commodities and foodstuffs to Cuba to potential sales of feed grains and equipment.

After a trip to Cuba last week, U.S. agriculture leaders are more determined than ever to convince Congress to end the U.S. embargo on business with Cuba. However, their goals are shifting from selling U.S. commodities and foodstuffs to Cuba to potential sales of feed grains and equipment.

In an extraordinary display of unity, 392 farm, nutrition and conservation groups have written to the chairmen and ranking members of Congressional Budget Committees urging no cuts in any programs under the jurisdiction of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees.

Obama offered no indication of whether he’ll eventually issue a permit for the pipeline, the construction of which has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate about environmental policy and climate change.

“A bad inversion day is the absolute worst time to spray,” Thostenson said. Avoiding temperature inversions during the spray season is challenging even for professional sprayers, but researchers are slowly gathering more information about how they work and how growers can avoid them.

In an extraordinary display of unity, 392 farm, nutrition and conservation groups have written to the chairmen and ranking members of Congressional Budget Committees urging no cuts in any programs under the jurisdiction of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees.

Obama offered no indication of whether he’ll eventually issue a permit for the pipeline, the construction of which has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate about environmental policy and climate change.

“A bad inversion day is the absolute worst time to spray,” Thostenson said. Avoiding temperature inversions during the spray season is challenging even for professional sprayers, but researchers are slowly gathering more information about how they work and how growers can avoid them.

“Although farm production expenses also increase beyond 2016, net farm income remains above its 2001-10 average,” the report stated. “Similarly, the value of U.S. agricultural exports falls in 2015 due to lower crop prices, but then rises over the rest of the projection period.

“Although farm production expenses also increase beyond 2016, net farm income remains above its 2001-10 average,” the report stated. “Similarly, the value of U.S. agricultural exports falls in 2015 due to lower crop prices, but then rises over the rest of the projection period.

As a result, the LLC can provide health insurance coverage for three of its employees, but yet choose to not provide coverage for you. That will change in a few years when the IRS regulations are issued and become effective, but in the interim, the tax law has no.

Talks between West Coast dock workers and employers have stalled and the White House will be sending U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to referee the disagreement. However, some industry watchers say it’s too late as some shippers make plans to move away from West Coast ports to other venues.

“The issue is not what you would normally think about in a labor dispute. It’s not about wages and benefits. Those are issues that, I think, are more easily resolved—and in fact 95 percent of those have been resolved. It’s about an arbitrator,” he said..

Farmers adopt practices such as conservation tillage, no-till, cover crops and crop rotation in attempts to limit and restore what is taken from this precious resource. Farmers utilize animal manures and put back additives such as gypsum and biologicals (humates, enzymes and organisms) in an effort to promote good health.

During a drought, plants release a stress hormone called abscisic acid (ABA), which binds to an important protein receptor. This binding prompts a series of life-saving measures in the plant that allow it to conserve water and halt plant growth until moisture arrives.

As a result, the LLC can provide health insurance coverage for three of its employees, but yet choose to not provide coverage for you. That will change in a few years when the IRS regulations are issued and become effective, but in the interim, the tax law has no.

Talks between West Coast dock workers and employers have stalled and the White House will be sending U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to referee the disagreement. However, some industry watchers say it’s too late as some shippers make plans to move away from West Coast ports to other venues.

“The issue is not what you would normally think about in a labor dispute. It’s not about wages and benefits. Those are issues that, I think, are more easily resolved—and in fact 95 percent of those have been resolved. It’s about an arbitrator,” he said..

Farmers adopt practices such as conservation tillage, no-till, cover crops and crop rotation in attempts to limit and restore what is taken from this precious resource. Farmers utilize animal manures and put back additives such as gypsum and biologicals (humates, enzymes and organisms) in an effort to promote good health.

During a drought, plants release a stress hormone called abscisic acid (ABA), which binds to an important protein receptor. This binding prompts a series of life-saving measures in the plant that allow it to conserve water and halt plant growth until moisture arrives.

I encourage growers to think of the soil as an engine. The productivity (horsepower) of that engine can be improved, but first we need to measure the existing horsepower. The Solvita test is an affordable tool growers can use to estimate the size of soil’s engine by measuring respiration or carbon dioxide (CO2) release.

I encourage growers to think of the soil as an engine. The productivity (horsepower) of that engine can be improved, but first we need to measure the existing horsepower. The Solvita test is an affordable tool growers can use to estimate the size of soil’s engine by measuring respiration or carbon dioxide (CO2) release.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) last Tuesday passed a resolution to support “a national uniform labeling policy for foods derived from genetic engineering” and to reaffirm the Food and Drug Administration “as the authority in uniform food labeling.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) last Tuesday passed a resolution to support “a national uniform labeling policy for foods derived from genetic engineering” and to reaffirm the Food and Drug Administration “as the authority in uniform food labeling.

on pg. 5 with the same headline. In that earlier installment, Biebl recounted the story of a recent taxpayer victory in the Morehouse case. This landmark Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision holds that a landlord/investor is not subject to the 15.3 percent selfemployment tax (SE tax) on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) rents.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman also will brief the House Agriculture Committee on trade issues, including trade promotion authority, Conaway said. He told the nation’s agriculture commissioners the briefing would take place, and then later told reporters that a briefing for the full committee was needed because there are so many new members.

A “perfect storm” last year slowed agricultural transportation by rail, barge and ship. The challenges included a long, cold, snowy winter; high-yielding crops that increased what needed to be moved; and labor issues stretched on at West Coast ports..

on pg. 5 with the same headline. In that earlier installment, Biebl recounted the story of a recent taxpayer victory in the Morehouse case. This landmark Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision holds that a landlord/investor is not subject to the 15.3 percent selfemployment tax (SE tax) on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) rents.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman also will brief the House Agriculture Committee on trade issues, including trade promotion authority, Conaway said. He told the nation’s agriculture commissioners the briefing would take place, and then later told reporters that a briefing for the full committee was needed because there are so many new members.

A “perfect storm” last year slowed agricultural transportation by rail, barge and ship. The challenges included a long, cold, snowy winter; high-yielding crops that increased what needed to be moved; and labor issues stretched on at West Coast ports..

The U.S. is continuing to put pressure on Canada to put forward a more robust proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations, Darci Vetter, the chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator, said last Tuesday at the International Dairy Foods Association’s annual Dairy Forum.

The U.S. is continuing to put pressure on Canada to put forward a more robust proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations, Darci Vetter, the chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator, said last Tuesday at the International Dairy Foods Association’s annual Dairy Forum.

As some growers consider a move from continuous corn fields to soybeans, they will need to consider a host of management steps, agronomists told DTN. Inoculation will be the most important one, Staton stressed. Checking on proper nodulation this summer will help growers gain that oft-reported bean yield bump following corn.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new rule last Tuesday that allows biodiesel from Argentina to be imported to the U.S., and for the biodiesel to qualify as a renewable fuel that meets the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) provided a third party audited the land used to grow the feedstock in making the blendstock.

“It’s an epidemic at this point,” Heller told WPR. “Carriers aren’t hauling freight not because they don’t have equipment, not because they don’t have freight; it’s because they don’t have the drivers to haul them.

As some growers consider a move from continuous corn fields to soybeans, they will need to consider a host of management steps, agronomists told DTN. Inoculation will be the most important one, Staton stressed. Checking on proper nodulation this summer will help growers gain that oft-reported bean yield bump following corn.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new rule last Tuesday that allows biodiesel from Argentina to be imported to the U.S., and for the biodiesel to qualify as a renewable fuel that meets the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) provided a third party audited the land used to grow the feedstock in making the blendstock.

“It’s an epidemic at this point,” Heller told WPR. “Carriers aren’t hauling freight not because they don’t have equipment, not because they don’t have freight; it’s because they don’t have the drivers to haul them.

Don’t expect much farmer economizing in production costs in 2015, but it’s not for lack of trying. Yes, growers can nickel-and-dime their remaining grain and soybean expenses, but most cannot recover the hundreds of dollars of gross income per acre that have vanished since 2012.

Don’t expect much farmer economizing in production costs in 2015, but it’s not for lack of trying. Yes, growers can nickel-and-dime their remaining grain and soybean expenses, but most cannot recover the hundreds of dollars of gross income per acre that have vanished since 2012.

If a husband employs only his wife as a full-time employee, can she be reimbursed for their insurance plan and also have a Section 105 medical reimbursement plan for other doctor bills, prescriptions, etc.? The only other employee is part-time. Also, the three permitted exceptions are all separate alternatives, correct?.

“The drop in production represents lost jobs and economic activity. It represents a lost opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. And it represents another year in which we fail to tackle our dangerous dependence on oil in the fuels sector.

If a husband employs only his wife as a full-time employee, can she be reimbursed for their insurance plan and also have a Section 105 medical reimbursement plan for other doctor bills, prescriptions, etc.? The only other employee is part-time. Also, the three permitted exceptions are all separate alternatives, correct?.

“The drop in production represents lost jobs and economic activity. It represents a lost opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. And it represents another year in which we fail to tackle our dangerous dependence on oil in the fuels sector.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unlike any tax legislation I have ever seen. We are more than four years since enactment, yet the surprises keep unfolding. The latest administrative decree from the Department of Labor (DOL) will require some coordination between ag producers and their tax preparers.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unlike any tax legislation I have ever seen. We are more than four years since enactment, yet the surprises keep unfolding. The latest administrative decree from the Department of Labor (DOL) will require some coordination between ag producers and their tax preparers.

When spring crop insurance guarantees set for most states March 1, they aren’t likely to cover cost of production, land-grant universities forecast. So the uncomfortable discussions with farm lenders this winter may focus on minimizing losses, not necessarily showing a profit in 2015.

Speaking of the provision to stop implementation of the interpretive rule on agricultural exemptions accompanying WOTUS proposal and other environmental policy riders in the omnibus, Mc- Carthy said, “I am not unhappy with what went through the legislature.

Over my 40-year tax career, I’ve had countless situations representing taxpayers in IRS exams. Most are resolved at various levels within the IRS, but I’ve had three get to litigation. Fortunately, all were taxpayer victories. Two of those, however, took two rounds.

But before you pack it all in, consider scouting your wheat fields one last time this fall. A thorough walkthrough of young winter wheat stands can help you troubleshoot your planting system, plan for the spring, and maybe even earn that second helping of Thanksgiving leftovers.

Take the Brazilian boom town of Sorriso, Mato Grosso, which stood on the northernmost edge of the state’s soybean frontier 15 years ago. It is as remote from the Atlantic port terminals as North Dakota is from Pacific Northwest ports, but back then, visiting U.

Here we are two months from the end of the year, ready to tackle those critical year-end tax projections, and we still don’t know the depreciation rules for 2014. Soon Congress will finally address the so-called “extenders.

You indicate in your question that you do not speculate, but that may not be accurate tax terminology. The tax law characterizes regulated futures accounts as either hedging or speculation. Hedging is defined as a contract that provides price protection for your physical position in your cattle business.

The company’s two genetically-engineered corn traits aren’t approved for import in China, and Chinese rejections of U.S. corn and dried distiller grains (DDG) containing the Viptera trait (MIR 162) have set off an industry firestorm. Most recently, the seed company is facing legal action—a lawsuit from grain company Cargill Inc.

“Though scientists have been promoting the production and usage of GMO crops, public media has brought a lot of discussion on the safety issue of GMO food, and most of the information from it was negative,” said Guanghui Xie, a professor at China Agricultural University.

Individuals who buy health insurance through an exchange furnish an estimate of their income, and the exchange then subsidizes their monthly insurance premium. The greater the estimated income, the lower the subsidy. After 1040 actual income is computed, the advance subsidy is adjusted up or down as an additional 1040 tax or refund.

First of all, the young couple will insist on a legal transfer of title. There is a deed to record that is on public record. When the closing does occur, the title company or attorney will file a 1099 tax form to the IRS, which is required on real estate sales transactions.

Route 66 stretches across the high desert and through to valleys on the other side of the San Bernardino Mountains before blending into the weaving interstates and highways of greater Los Angeles. Any reflection of the old highway heading to Santa Monica Pier gets lost in the intensity of daily Los Angeles interstate traffic.

Speaking to reporters after a Growth Energy event, Vilsack said the conversation took place in Buffett’s Omaha office and that Buffett had noted that the BNSF railroad, in which he is a major investor, has made commitments to improve service and the railroad’s infrastructure.

In a letter written by Tim Luken, Manager of Oahe Grain in Onida, SD, and presented at the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) recent rail hearing, Luken stated, “I have sold very little small grain into the market due to not knowing when I will be receiving cars to ship out in a timely manner.

If a small employer has been providing group coverage and the group premiums remain affordable for that employer, there is no reason to change. Further, the employer and employee continue to be free to negotiate any split of the premium costs.

Most Midwest crop producers fixate on February futures prices. That’s the month when market averages set the bulk of federal crop insurance guarantees for the coming growing season. But Luke Smith, a partner in his family’s Rochester, IN, grain operation and commercial elevator, thinks outside that February timeframe.

The checkoff is overseen by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board (CBB), but it is essentially run by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NC- BA). The Beef Board approved a $40.2 million budget for fiscal year 2015 at its summer meeting, down 2.

Livestock, poultry and food companies have called for eliminating the Renewable Fuel Standard for nearly a decade based on the notion that ethanol-induced higher corn prices were the cause of rising food prices.

stocks being sent to China, DTN Senior Analyst Darin Newsom said ending stocks shouldn’t be as large as the 140 mb USDA projected in August. That fact is playing out in the futures spreads and U.S. basis market. The national average basis is $1.55 over the November contract, but “U.

A recent Kansas State University feeding trial showed that lower application rates in ammoniation can be effective when feeding low quality forage with wet distillers grains (WDG), according to Justin Waggoner, Beef Systems Specialist for Kansas State University Research and Extension.

The comprehensive tax reforms under discussion in Washington include a subject of great importance to farmers—the cash method of accounting. The cash method is used by many taxpayers in addition to farmers, specifically service businesses and professional practices.

The tax law defines a hedge as a transaction in the normal course of business to minimize the risk of price change with respect to inventory or supplies. This requires a producer to have a hedging position that’s opposite the physical position on the farm and within normal production ranges.

Japan banned beef from the U.S. and Canada in 2003 because of BSE. The beef came back in 2006, albeit limited to meat taken from cattle aged up to 20 months as an anti-BSE measure. Certain “specified risk materials” (SRMs) with high risk of carrying BSE were also forbidden.

Sometime in the late 1920s, after countless nights of craning his neck through the nooks and crannies of the Milky Way, Edward Hubble concluded that the universe was indeed still expanding in the wake of the Big Bang, that first true spark of herd building launched 13.

R-CALF USA, which is not a member of the group, issued a warning that other farm groups plan to agree by next Friday to a proposal it considers “smoke and mirrors,” while some participants in the group said no agreement would be announced until this fall or winter, if ever.

Corn importers don’t have to look far for supplies, either. With China’s hesitance to take U.S. corn, due to that country’s failure to approve corn with the MIR162, South Korea is enjoying the availability of Asia-bound freighters and lower prices. Imports of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) also are doubling.

Republican members of the Senate Agriculture Committee finally got their meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy last Tuesday and urged her to withdraw the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, but a McCarthy spokeswoman said issues with the rule can be handled in the agency’s comment process.

What are your thoughts about a charitable remainder trust in this instance? The couple could create a lifetime income stream and use the deduction to offset that income. Perhaps they could also set up a wealth replacement trust (life insurance) to benefit the children if they have concerns about leaving those sale proceeds.

When Farmers National Co. sold another 80-acre Sioux County, IA, farm for $20,300 per acre this month, observers chalked it up as another trophy sale. The buyer won’t necessarily expect a competitive return on investment anytime soon, but did acquire a prized possession.

Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a landmark tax case last week that would not only set a precedent for absentee landowners with Conservation Reserve Program contracts, but could potentially redefine tax treatment of cash rents, conservation easements and other types of passive income if allowed to stand, farm managers and legal scholars say.

It is unclear how long the Senate debate will last because the agriculture bill has been packaged with two other appropriations measures in what is being referred to as a “minibus” as opposed to the omnibus bills that sometimes fund the government when Congress doesn’t pass individual appropriations bills.

Though a decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would traverse farm and ranch lands in the Nebraska Sandhills is unlikely to come from the Obama administration ahead of the November elections, a U.S.

“All countries in the region are the same or a little higher (in purchases), and it’s all related to price,” said Kurt Shultz, the U.S. Grains Council’s Regional Director for the Western Hemisphere. “Free trade agreements in some countries have opened up the door.

a hobby loss issue. But individuals with a substantial income from another source who undertake a sideline farming activity and use cash method accounting deferrals to create a negative, need to recognize that Section 183 can allow the IRS to eliminate the loss.

The ministry made the announcement after receiving the results of tests conducted on samples from the animal in the U.K. In truth, the report said there was no conclusive diagnosis, but the government said details in the report reinforced its hypothesis that this was not a classic case of the disease, popularly known as mad cow.

The nightmare of the 2013 tax return preparation season was the new 3.8 percent net investment income (NII) tax. The good news is this tax only applies to the extent income on page 1 of the Form 1040 exceeds $200,000 single or $250,000 joint.

On the positive side, exports to Asia increased 5 percent for a total of $1.2 billion while exports to Canada increased 6 percent for total of $4.3 billion. The increase in Asia was aided by China having government polices still supportive of agriculture focusing on productivity and increasing farm income, he said.

On Dec. 11, 2013, FDA announced implementation of the plan and asked the animal pharmaceutical industry to withdraw such drugs from production, as stated in its Guidance for Industry No. 213. In addition, FDA is requiring oversight by a veterinarian for use of antibiotics.

I would imagine back in the late 1970s through the 1990s when many JD dealerships still tended to be family-owned, the range of John Deere Day events varied greatly. I can remember gatherings at the dealership both in the evening complete with a dinner and dance in the shop and also in the afternoon with a lunch and no dance.

For higher-income individuals, a 1031 exchange may be particularly beneficial, as they will be able to duck the 5 percent increase in the capital gain rate, and will also avoid the new 3.8 percent net investment income tax.

Here, a dozen environmentalists and farmers peered through a dimly lit room at PowerPoint slides that highlighted the grim state of water in the Sunflower State. When the lights came up, so did the hands, as the attendees peppered Kansas state officials with questions and concerns.

At present, an old limit of $25,000 is technically the tax law. However, we expect Congress to treat the Section 179 limit as one of its many “extender” provisions that will be updated for 2014 in upcoming legislation.

“We had assumed that under the continuation of the old law that more land would be planted to corn because of the ACRE program,” Glauber said. “Now with the new programs based on base acres, we think there will be more flexibility. They will look at the soybean-to-corn price ratio and will plant a little less corn than normal.

AgriBank, the Farm Credit System district bank that sources funds for Farm Credit Associations covering half of the nation’s cropland, still sees wide disparities in farmland appreciation, depending on the 15 states within its territory.

In the past, many employers paid some or all of an employee’s individual health insurance premiums. This was a tax deduction to the employer and tax-free to the employee. But those arrangements now violate the “market reforms” of the ACA and result in the large employer penalty.

The five-year stretch from 2008-2012 represented the most profitable crops in 40 years of U.S. corn production. Sadly, most of the spoils accrued to just the top half of producers, a recent study by the consulting firm of AgriSolutions Inc. found. Ag’s golden era largely bypassed the bottom half of corn growers in their analysis.

Cash accounting—a time-honored method small businesses use to ease their taxes on income they have yet to receive— could be severely restricted, along with depreciation schedules on farm equipment and buildings and the use of 1031 tax-deferred exchanges on real estate.

China’s government has officially decided “to use new technology and look to global markets” but “there is still an intense and increasingly public debate in China when genetic modification and trade intersect,” said Scott Sindelar, the Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs at the U.

Do you remember when you were in grade school and the science project was to watch and record the process of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly? One day, the funny looking bug was hanging from a twig, the next it was encased in a cocoon, and then suddenly a butterfly was fluttering around the plastic box.

Research shows they love food—or rather, they love to read about it, watch it being made, and take pictures of it. Every day, the millennial generation visits the top five cooking websites 4.5 million times and makes food-related web searches 5.5 million times.

At a recent family meeting, Mom and Dad lamented that they never felt finished with their estate and succession planning. They had completed significant gifts to the next generation, but still had an estate tax liability.

One of the primary factors working in sorghum’s favor among farmers—lower corn prices—has actually threatened its appeal as an ethanol source. Ethanol plants that had shifted toward sorghum veered back to corn as prices fell, said Greg Krissek, a manager with Kennedy & Coe, a national accounting and consulting firm.

Members believe companies have an obligation to fully disclose how they use data, compensate farmers when information is shared with third parties and prevent such information from being subject to federal Freedom of Information Act requests. Also, farmers should have the.

In the past, the farm has paid for all health insurance, but my husband has turned 65 and is on Medicare. Can the farm partnership continue to pay all health insurance premiums? Or should we offer a Section 105 reimbursement plan so that we can pay insurance and out-ofpocket expenses pre-tax?.

“The biggest story of 2013 is the end of the demand market for corn,” said DTN Senior Analyst Darin Newsom. “From record crops despite unfavorable weather to attacks on demand on all three fronts, the end of King Corn’s reign will have long-lasting ripple effects across agriculture.

Remember how the Grinch hated Christmas because, depending on various theories, his shoes were too tight, his heart was two sizes too small, or his head wasn’t screwed on just right? Whatever the reason, the Grinch went on to steal the Whos’ Christmas until, as the story goes, his heart grew and he returned the bounty.

Traditional year-end tax planning is all about deferrals—commodity revenue pushed to the next year and expenses accelerated into the current year. And the tendency is to set reportable taxable income below actual earnings. The result is a continuously increasing income deferral that becomes a tax disaster at retirement when it’s recognized.

China’s grain buyers are likely to import more corn this year because of the dramatic difference between global corn prices and China’s domestic prices. “As of Dec. 5, the imported corn price is around $304 per ton compared to $406 per ton of domestic corn in south China’s Guangdong Province,” Wu said.

“Even if you add energy, you don’t get as much of a response. The animal will still only be able to grow the amount that the protein will allow,” he said. “You can add minerals, vitamins, or other required nutrients, but protein is first limiting, it’s what’s holding them back the most.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) most recent wave of I-9 audits is a grim reminder of the frustrating status quo that lies ahead for the agricultural industry now that immigration reform is off the table this year, farm labor industry representatives told DTN.

Both the House and the Senate will be in session during that time. The House was out the week of Nov 4, but both chambers are scheduled to leave again on Nov. 22 for a Thanksgiving break and congressional aides have said they are likely to be out of session for two weeks.

The “play or pay” lingo is a dilemma facing large employers on the question of providing health insurance. For those with 50 or more employees, there is the messy choice of maintaining employee health insurance under stringent rules (play) or eventually incur a $2,000 penalty per employee for not offering coverage (pay).

Farmers could outsource their agronomists in the near future, if weather insurer Climate Corporation succeeds in its latest product launch. Unlike traditional on-site crop advisers and field scouts, these agronomic experts include a team of PhDs with degrees in statistics, physics and applied math.

It’s the residual interest provision—a section of commodities law that states one customer’s excess margin can’t be used to cover another’s deficit—that was at the heart of the controversy. CFTC softened the language and phased in the reporting requirements, which the commissioners believe less en.

“We [DuPont Pioneer] do not ‘market’ or sell transgenic seed in Mexico today, because it hasn’t been approved for commercial cultivation. Any Pioneer GMO products in Mexico are planted in strict accordance with the regulatory framework put in place by the government,” a spokes man.

Wittman and his family partners also feel an obligation to make sure their farm’s 15 year-round and part-time employees aren’t bankrupted should they or their families become sick. That means the Wittmans were first in line Oct.

Not all farm estates are super-sized. But even if your net worth falls below the $5.25-million-per-person federal estate tax exemption—or the $4 million that triggers some estate or inheritance state taxes— smart planning can save thousands of dollars in estate settlement costs.

Smith said the idea came from a colleague who took part in a grazing conference. The first trial was in a personal garden, where oats were planted in July and August to see if they would grow enough for forage. A beef producer later planted 30-40 acres on Aug.

“As far as real market impact, it’s going to depend upon whether anybody follows suit,” DTN Livestock Analyst John Harrington said. “If Tyson’s all alone out there, it’s probably not going to have a huge market impact. On the other hand, if JBS, National and Cargill all get on the same page, well, then that will have ripples.

Thanks to a Treasury Department reprieve announced in July, “large” employers with more than 50 full-time equivalent workers won’t be obligated to offer health insurance until 2015. Postponement is a relief, but Yunker is still struggling with the government’s current definition of who is a full-time, part-time or seasonal employee.

CRP is a voluntary program that helps agricultural producers safeguard environmentally sensitive land by establishing long-term, resource-conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion and enhance wildlife habitat. The producers receive rental payments and cost-share assistance in return.

Total frozen beef imports amounted to 72,010 tons in April-June 2012 and 77,775 tons during the same period this year, a rise of only 8 percent, according to Japan Ministry of Finance (MOF) figures. “The tariff will not rise” Aug.

Farmers need to time corn harvest correctly to be able to preserve and ensile corn so that it goes through fermentation properly for the type of structure they intend to put it into, according to Joe Lauer, corn agronomist at the University of Wisconsin- Madison.

Edward Snowden, former computer geek with the National Security Agency (NSA) last seen working security at the Moscow airport, is best described as: A) a patriotic whistleblower; B) a goofball spy; C) a villainous traitor; or D) an unwitting advocate of livestock production liberty.

The department received nearly 28,000 offers on more than 1.9 million acres of land, according to a USDA news release. USDA has enrolled nearly 12 million acres in new CRP contracts since 2009. Currently, there are more than 26.9 million acres enrolled on 700,000 contracts.

Get ready to say goodbye to the latest bonanza years of grain agriculture. The world may be adding billions of new mouths to feed over the next few decades, but population growth alone isn’t enough to sustain record-busting crop incomes that made...

Vilsack was reacting to statements by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-OK, late Tuesday that Lucas does not expect the House Republican leadership to appoint farm bill conferees before a determination is made on a nutrition bill.

More than 27 million acres of farmland are under Conservation Reserve Program contracts now. Unlike cash rent, CRP rents constitute an “environmentally-friendly business” so are subject to SE taxes, the Tax Court ruled last week. (Graphic courtesy of FSA).

The U.S. Supreme Court last Monday announced it will not hear an American Petroleum Institute plea to strike down the Obama administration’s decision to allow the sale of E15. The move effectively ends the legal challenges to E15, a fuel seen as a way for the ethanol industry to overcome the so-called blend wall.

The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Alliance of Automobile Manufactures and the Grocery Manufacturers Association each petitioned the Supreme Court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia’s Circuit decision Aug..

Monsanto Co. shared a validated testing method for identifying the Roundup Ready wheat trait with USDA and concerned importing nations, the seed company said in a statement late last Monday. It’s a development that could soothe fears of widespread contamination of U.

In response to the explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. that killed 14 people and injured more than 200 others, two major associations announced last Monday they are including the handling of ammonium nitrate as part of standard of management practices for fertilizer operations.

One of the recent challenges we have faced as tax advisers is to find all the tax increases buried in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and help our clients deal with them. This year it has been the 3.8 percent investment income tax and the extra Medicare tax.

There are no GE wheat varieties approved for sale or in commercial production in the U.S. or elsewhere at this time, but the agency stressed it does not pose a food safety concern. There is also no information that indicates this trait entered the commercial supply chain, according to an APHIS Q&A fact sheet.

In south-central Minnesota, farmer Mark Nowak has already buried hopes for the remaining 25 percent of his 2013 corn crop. With only 3-1/2 days suitable for planting this spring and a chance for rain every day now through June 8, Nowak plans to file a prevented planting claim when his crop insurance final planting date hits May 31.

In a conference call to reporters shortly after Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, announced the committee markup of the bill will be next Tuesday, Gillibrand, D-NY, said she believes the bill “will move to the floor as early as next week.

Fertilizer continued on its nearly six-month-old path of extremely steady prices, according to retailers tracked by DTN for the third week of April 2013. But the explosion at a Texas fertilizer outlet is renewing safety concerns about the storage of certain fertilizer products.

If anyone can turn around EPA’s relationship with rural America, it may be Bittleman. She comes to EPA after serving as senior adviser to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on energy and EPA issues. In that capacity, she was viewed as a strong advocate for renewable fuels, including ethanol.

Some of the largest increases, percentage wise, come from increased planting in Arkansas, Mississippi and other Delta states as farmers switch from cotton to corn. USDA expects farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota and Nebraska to plant slightly less corn than last year.

The word “extreme” is getting a workout regarding spring 2013 vs. spring 2012. A year ago, record-high temperatures and dry soils had corn growers running planters by mid-March. There’s a sharp contrast in 2013: Daytime temperatures running 20 degrees Fahrenheit below normal have made March seem like a displaced version of January.

Manure applied to fields from cows fed corn or dried distillers grains with solubles did not affect the transport of fecal indicator bacteria, according to research conducted by Agricultural Research Service scientists at the Agroecosystems Management Research Unit in Lincoln, NE.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Bart Chilton wants to make sure customers are protected if another futures commission merchant fails, but he also wants to address industry concerns about the expense of a CFTC-proposed rule on customer protections.

It all started in California. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) began contacting veterinarians, whose practices were at least in part mobile, to tell them they could not legally transport controlled substances off their clinic/ home premises. To do so, DEA notified these veteri narians,.

The new hours will be Sunday to Friday from 7 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. On Mondays through Fridays, there will be a break in electronic trading from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Trade will continue from 8:30 to 1:15 p.m. The change affects CBOT grains and KCBT wheat, and pending CFTC approval, the new hours will begin on April 8.

The idea for the experiments came from the shortage of hay in the Nebraska Panhandle after the winter of 2011, which was only exacerbated by last year’s drought. With beef producers searching for alternatives to high-priced alfalfa, the researchers knew that wet byproducts mixed with wheat straw made a good fit.

Many regions’ pastures and rangelands are seeing dry soils as well as disappointing forecasts with little moisture predicted. These dry field conditions have led to weak plants in pastures, according to Bruce Anderson, UNL Extension forage specialist..

“I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it comes down to weather in June and July,” USDA ag meteorologist Brad Rippey said when attendees questioned USDA’s optimistic yield forecast. “History shows that even in the wake of the drought of 1988, it seems to be late spring and summer weather that determines the outcome for row crops.

If Congress fails to head off the approaching sequestration cuts and USDA is forced to furlough meat inspectors, John Harrington’s “Plan B” suggestion is to use members of Congress—such as Reps. Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner—as substitute meat inspectors.

Holding company Seven & I Holdings imported 3 tons of meat from U.S. cattle aged up to 30 months for sale at its Ito-Yokado and York-Benimaru supermarket chains. Three Ito-Yokado stores in Tokyo started sales Feb.

Nearly 300 weed scientists from 33 countries are Down Under last week, digging into the science of herbicide resistance. Stephen Powles, Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (AHRI) director, told DTN in an interview that the evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds poses a real threat to global food production and security.

Portions of a proposed CFTC rule to enhance the protection of customers’ margin funds could make hedging prohibitively expensive for farmers and ranchers and the small- to mid-sized futures commission merchants that serve them, industry representatives fear.

Optimists have contended that the surge in farm net worth will cushion any blow should land values correct any time soon. Some economists believe farmland owners may feel the fall, but they won’t take farm banks down with them like they did in the 1980s.

In wide-ranging comments after his speech on the sequestration and the prospects for a new farm bill, Vilsack said the sequestration, an across-the-board cut in government spending set to go into effect on March 1 if Congress does not change it,...

In Washington, the president laid out a liberal-oriented agenda that included proposing to raise the minimum wage, emphasizing the need to address climate change and promote clean energy. The president advocated spending on infrastructure and education and passing immigration reform.

Farmers and traders have always been more concerned about keeping the wheat contract committee intact than keeping the pit open, Gilpin said, and CME has agreed to keep that committee intact for at least three years. The contract committee gives physical users of wheat input on the contract terms, a role they’d like to keep.

This is the time of year when farmers are dealing with taxes and other financial paperwork. It’s also the perfect time to address those important “perpetual” tax documents that get outdated. This is important defensive medicine. The IRS will create havoc when your paperwork does not match current transactions.

For the children of a 75-year-old couple who live in the Great Plains, the paperwork dash was a little too close for comfort. Their parents had put off the finishing touches on an estate plan until Dec. 31 last year, their son said.

The corn market also is full of nervous anticipation. “Traders will take note of precipitation across the U.S. Midwest over the course of the winter, given the dry soil conditions at the end of last fall,” said DTN Senior Analyst Darin Newsom. “This should continue to be an evolving issue.

The drought will continue to devastate the beef cattle industry in terms of decreased available forage, as about 85 percent of the feed used to produce finished beef is forage, according to Terry J. Klopfenstein, professor of ruminant nutrition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have drafted a work plan agreement to improve the state’s regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, in response to a petition filed by...

The House of Representatives last Tuesday passed by a vote of 257-167 a bill to avert a set of automatic tax increases that would have gone into effect Jan. 1. The bill passed the Senate 89-8 Monday and is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, who made several pro-ethanol decisions key to the economy in rural America, but who ran into conflict with some farm leaders and Republicans over regulations, announced last Thursday that she will resign.

The dust hasn’t yet settled in Washington, D.C., but farmers can count on scoring some significant tax victories in legislation designed to avert the fiscal cliff. Chief among them are provisions renewing generous writeoffs for equipment purchases and permanent exemptions that spare moderatesized farm estates from federal tax.

The legislative delegations from North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Kansas sent a joint letter to President Barack Obama, urging him to refrain from declaring an emergency on the Mississippi River due to economic losses from reduced barge traffic.

South Dakotan Bob Metz farms so close to the state line, his post office box is based in Minnesota. It’s a good thing he lives on the right side of the border, however. Metz and wife Karen want ownership of the farm his ancestors homesteaded more than 125 years ago to stay in family hands.

The calculator was developed for anyone working with livestock rations—including producers, nutritionists and extension agents—and was designed to be a tool that will assist them in evaluating feedstuffs that are available to them, according to...

Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day ranks as the normal seasonal low for diesel fuel prices and the best fuel buying opportunity of the year, based on five-year averages. But before you dive into year-end purchases, consider 2012-13 has been anything but average.

Fewer grain farms are likely to be held hostage by their debt loads should today’s Golden Era end abruptly. Unlike the 1980s, America’s grain producers have bolstered an important equity ratio since 2007 that will help them withstand a return to thinner profits or higher interest rates, a recent study by AgriSolutions found.

A major weakness in the U.S. policy for biofuels has been the failure to develop commercial processes to produce fuel from cellulosic feedstocks, given the assumption promoted by the last several administrations that huge quantities of fuel could be produced efficiently from feedstocks “that do not compete with food production.

The nation’s row-crop harvest continued to run well ahead of normal this past week while emergence of the winter wheat crop was slightly behind normal, according to USDA’s weekly Crop Progress report. Release of the report was delayed until Wednesday due to Hurricane Sandy.

Many producers will receive multiple payments on private crop insurance on top of record prices for the crops they did harvest. Any crop insurance deferral election must cover all proceeds received within the year of the disaster. It is not possible to defer a portion or to be selective among different payors.

Precipitation deficits for the first three-quarters of the year are huge. Iowa fell to a 9-inch statewide precipitation deficit for the first time Oct. 4. Data compiled by Iowa State Climatologist Harry Hillaker shows the four-month period covering June, July, August and September is the third-driest in 140 years of precipitation records.

“The timing is really unfortunate,” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soybean Transportation Coalition. In an average year, about 75 percent of U.S. soybean exports take place between September and February, but because of last year’s short crop in South America, some groups estimate as much as 90 percent of U.

On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner, R- OH, said the House would “deal with” the farm bill after the election while Lucas, R-OK, questioned what that means while House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-MN, said he would not support a Democratic discharge petition effort to bring up the bill.

Rick Murdock, a farmer in Murray, KY, was so convinced irrigation was the wave of the future, he signed up to be an irrigation equipment dealer. He sold his first pivot in February and has since sold two more systems. In August, his phone didn’t stop ringing.

“There is no more important piece of legislation Congress can work on for farmers, producers and ranchers than passage of a farm bill this month,” Vilsack told NFU members from around the country who are in Washington for a fly-in and spent the morning in the Jefferson Auditorium at the Agriculture Department listening to a series of speakers.

The prion panel was one of the 14 committees of the Japanese Cabinet’s Food Safety Commission, which was charged last December with assessing the risk of transmission of BSE to humans from consumption of beef up to 30 months from the four countries. It held its final meeting Sept.

The report also found that when it comes to grains, about 2 percent of those are lost during production and 2 percent during post harvest, handling and storage. In addition, about 10 percent is lost during processing and packaging, 2 percent is attributed to distribution and retail losses and about 27 percent by consumers.

Surrounded by members of the agriculture community at the Kentucky State Fair, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer slammed the bankruptcy process that has failed to provide justice to the farmers, markets, truckers, veterinarians and others whose cattle or services were stolen in the collapse of Eastern Livestock.

Among those participating in the meeting were Stabenow, D-MI; House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-OK; House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-MN; and Senate Agriculture ranking member Pat Roberts, R-KS, and Mike Joanns of NE, along with other senators.

Cash rent auctions in the $400-an-acre-and-up range have made headlines in the farm press the past two seasons. But that’s not indicative of what operators pay when they blend costs from all rental parcels, crop-share leases and owned land into a total-farm average.

Through May, China was buying 100 percent more DDG than a year ago. Exports to South Korea were up almost 60 percent and South Korea’s purchases were higher as well. Unfortunately, markets in Canada were down 22 percent and Mexico was down 15 percent..

Tight beef supplies and increased food prices will bring lean finely textured beef (LFTB), labeled as “pink slime” by the media, back to consumers’ plates, according to “LFTB: Beef’s Latest Battleground for Survival,” a report released last Wednesday by researchers at Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory.

USDA authorized emergency grazing and haying on eligible CRP land after the primary nesting period in 394 counties in 11 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, to help provide relief for farmers short of forage.

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) will not be required to report proprietary information to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after the agency dropped a proposed rule that ag interest groups said would have jeopardized privacy and security for livestock producers.

Roughly $200 million of segregated customer funds are missing from the bank accounts of Peregrine Financial Group (PFG), a brokerage firm based in Cedar Falls, IA, and Chicago, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleged in a lawsuit filed last Tuesday morning.

According to agriculture census data from USDA, there are 359 farms in Custer County and about 601,000 acres of farm land. Total ag sales in the county were about $14.4 million in 2007. About three-fourths of agriculture land in the county is dedicated to pasture.

Prior to the amendment votes, the new farm bill was scored to cost $498 billion over its five-year lifespan, or $969 billion over 10 years, based on congressional scoring procedures. The bill spends about $23 billion less than projected spending would have been if the current law and programs were extended.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be allowed to continue using aerial surveillance as a tool to enforce Clean Water Act (CWA) violations after the U.S. Senate last Thursday failed to pass two separate amendments to the farm bill—one to ban the practice and another to allow aerial surveillance with certain restrictions.

The hearing in Jefferson City, MO, was in response to protests by farmers and state officials who say that the Corps’ plan to dump nearly a million cubic yards of dredged soil from its habitat restoration projects into the Missouri River is wasteful and displays a double standard in regulation of the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Nebraska’s Emily Guerra, age 2, died when she fell off a spooked horse while her father was helping to brand calves. Austin Reuter, a 7-year-old from Iowa, died after an ATV rolled over him during evening chores, and Travis Flory, a 3-year-old in Wisconsin, was killed when he was accidentally run over by a skid steer his brother was driving.

CME Group has withdrawn its proposal to expand electronic grain trading hours to 22 hours per day, according to a Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) spokesman. The Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) also pulled its parallel proposal and submitted a new one, in which electronic trade would open at 5 p.

The production of ethanol in the U.S. reduced wholesale gasoline prices by an average of $1.09 per gallon in 2011. The research, authored by Professors Dermot Hayes and Xiadong Du, is an update of a 2009 report from CARD based on the impact ethanol has on gasoline prices.

“This was, reportedly, 10 percentage points above pre-report expectations,” said DTN Analyst John Sanow. “The most impressive showing to note is Illinois and Indiana at 79 percent and 70 percent, respectively, as compared to the five-year average of 29 percent and 20 percent.

It’s no shock that input costs for corn production have staged four years of sizable price increases. But unlike past seasons, higher overheads will be exposing producers to more serious marketing risks in 2012, cautions financial adviser Sam Bachman with AgriSolutions.

Gas guzzlers beware: Higher diesel prices could take some of the fun out of farming in 2012. Assuming an Illinois corn grower averaged $2.83/gallon for diesel in 2011, each $1/ gallon increase in 2012 will shave this year’s profit margins as much as 4.5 percent, according to Sam Bachman, a financial consultant with AgriSolutions, Brighton, IL.

In a response to the studies, insecticide manufacturer Bayer CropScience said the studies used higher than normal levels of neonicotinoid insecticides, and results contradicted results found in previous studies using “fieldlevel” amounts of the insecticides.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a petition last Monday seeking cancellation of all registrations for the popular herbicide ingredient 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, or 2,4-D, used on millions of U.S. farm acres to control broadleaf weeds.

It was definitely easier for an above-average corn grower to shoulder extreme rent in 2011 than 2012, according to financial adviser Sam Bachman with AgriSolutions, a Brighton, IL, financial consulting firm.

A fact surprising accountants as they study yearend farm financials for 2011 is how well private policies paid for wind and hail coverage, separate from more than $10 billion in claims paid nationwide under federal crop insurance last year.

Ethanol producers want to expand the market for ethanol in the U.S. by promoting the use of motor gasoline with a 15 percent ethanol ratio, or E15. But their efforts are being frustrated by many hurdles that might delay the fuel’s commercialization for some time, attendees at an ethanol conference held last week were told.

“We need to better market this industry with a positive message [such as] consumer choice [over which fuel to use], paying less at the pump and people getting jobs and the more opportunities now available to rural America,” he said. “What is at stake is a [fight over the] value system and it starts with agriculture.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said last Wednesday that if her agency does not get more money to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act, she can already predict an increase in foodborne illness and problems with imported food.

The state’s highest court found in favor of two Texas farmers who challenged the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EEA), according to the court’s ruling. In 1996, Burrell Day and Joel McDaniel requested a permit to pump water for crops from the Edwards Aquifer on a ranch near San Antonio.

Smith’s comments paralleled statements in USDA’s Livestock Outlook report, which said that consumption of red meat and poul try would drop roughly 6 pounds per capita in 2012. The average American will consume about 198 pounds of meat, the Outlook report stated.

Ethanol and farm groups praised an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision Feb. 17 to approve a higher level blend of ethanol known as E15, but the Environmental Working Group announced a campaign to discourage consumers from using it, and an Agriculture Department economist said he did not think it will win acceptance soon.

It’s been a warm winter everywhere, but the higherthan-usual temperatures have taken on different manifestations around the Corn Belt. In Illinois and Indiana, farmers have been fighting mud while trying to bring their winter corn commitments to market.

Almost exactly one year after launching the probe, in December of 2011, the Chinese government announced it would extend the probe until June 28 before making a final ruling. China’s Commerce Ministry called the case “special and complicated” and it warranted the extended months for the investigation.

Randy Main, Buffalo Center, IA, retailer is building a fertilizer condo. As the name implies, the condo is a facility where farmers can store their own UAN32 for a fee without having the expense and hassle of building and maintaining on-farm storage..

Potential interference with GPS signals was too much to overcome to make the proposed LightSquared wireless network feasible in rural areas as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced last Tuesday it would not allow the project to move forward.

Yet, Butler also described his frustration with the way a proposed livestock marketing rule, or “GIPSA rule” was beaten into submission by what Butler called cowardly moves in Congress, and “vicious lies” attacking him personally in the battle over a farm-bill rule on livestock.

Nearly 300 people crammed into a motel meeting room to attend the first cash rent public auction in the Mason City, IA, area Saturday, Feb. 4. About 25 active bidders raised hands or nodded heads as two-year leases for more than 2,250 tillable corn/soybean acres in 14 tracts went up for grabs.

A Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) lawsuit filed last January could lead to restrictions or the outright banning of many pesticides and other chemicals to protect endangered species. Ongoing settlement negotiations between CBD and agriculture groups could wrap up this spring, assuming a settlement can be reached.

Corporate profits are up 15 percent over last year. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say we were in the middle of a big economic expansion,” said Dotzour. “But investors are not willing to pay for those profits and companies are not willing to hire because no one thinks Con-.

“This is something I have been harping on privately to various groups and publicly,” Lucas said in a phone interview last Wednesday with DTN. “If we don’t come to some sort of a practical consensus, if we can’t march together, if we are fractured up, then we’re lost.

“I want to thank J. Dudley Butler for his outstanding service as administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement distributed by his office.

Farm Bureau delegates reversed their position last Tuesday from last year’s farm-policy recommendations that had effectively defended keeping much of the commodity title from the 2008 farm bill intact. Instead, Farm Bureau stripped its policies supporting direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, and the Average Crop Revenue Election program.

For much of West Texas, drought conditions are nothing new, but it was hard to find anyone in 2011 who recalled a worse drought. Amarillo, TX, generally averages 20 inches of precipitation annually. Through mid-August, the city registered 2.5 inches. By late December, that had bumped up to 6 inches, reflecting a minor fall reprieve.

You might feel as if you have whiplash, almost as if someone else spent their year yanking you back and forth. It’s been an unprecedented year for grain markets with many daily moves dictated by headlines from Europe rather than news from the Corn Belt.

China passed Canada as the top market for U.S. ag exports in 2011. As recently as 2004, China’s purchases totaled only $6 billion, making it our fifth-largest ag export market. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 1, the world’s largest importer of cotton and soybeans bought $20 billion of U.

MF Global appears to have violated one of the major tenets of clearing house accounting: the company transferred money from segregated customer accounts to the firm’s proprietary accounts. And since the firm declared bankruptcy, those funds have become the center of a collapse that has shaken farm country nationwide.

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-MN, wants Congress to consider adding the farm bill, which was prepared for the failed supercommittee on deficit reduction, to a bill to pay for an extension of payroll tax relief and...

Agribusiness owners put their present situation at 118.0, or very positive and second only to November 2010’s 122.2 rating. However, looking ahead, agribusinesses managers who do business with farmers are the most negative about the future since the index’s inception, giving a rating of 88.

Who knew? Those thick, sharp-tasting orange peels that people would never dream of eating are “snack heaven” for cows. Not only does the cow get good roughage and vitamins, but it also gets an antimicrobial boost from the peel’s essential oils.

Building a market to sell home-finished beef is all about consistency. You not only have to provide tasty, tender beef one year, but every year. And there is a formula, some cattlemen say, to hitting the mark every time. The best place to start, they stress, is with the genetics of the animal.

Early reports are surfacing of producers ending up with cattle feed that has been extended with sawdust and other fillers, and then masked with molasses. There have also been reports of 2- and 3-year-old hay sold, and of the watering down of hay to add weight.

Rural bankers and brokers are in no mood for mercy. They are furious with MF Global, the CME Group and federal regulators who allowed the country’s third largest clearinghouse to dip into customer accounts for their own high-risk trades.

Weather insurance isn’t a new product. It’s been used for years in a variety of situations ranging from movie production to concerts, motorsport events and even weddings. Your favorite retailer may buy insurance against a blizzard on Black Friday or a cool summer that reduces sales of air conditioners and fans.

Where it first breaks over the crest of the Loess Hills from the east, Highway 136 offers a spectacular view of the Missouri River Valley in Atchison County, MO. Treelined oxbow river channels, such as Langdon Lake, still provide groves of cottonwoods and wildlife habitat among fields of row crops.

House and Senate Agriculture committee leaders failed to finalize a letter the Friday before last on proposed farm bill budget cuts and a rewrite of farm programs that they were planning to send to the super committee on deficit reduction, but were expected to send it last week.

The American Soybean Association (ASA), the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and the National Farmers Union (NFU) are backing the House and Senate Ag Committee leaders decision to recommend to the deficit super committee that farm bill spending be cut by up to $23 billion over 10 years.

Fights began breaking out last Tuesday among agriculture interests over what the super committee might do with the farm bill, even though no one knows how the leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees are planning to move ahead with the proposal that they sent to the super committee last Monday.

Its not just the summer of $7 corn that superheated Midwest land markets. Investors rattled by the prospect of a double-dip recession still see U.S. farmland as a safe haven amid economic turmoil. That surge of nontraditional buyers lessens the threat of a downturn in farmland values anytime soon, real estate and Wall Street experts contend.

For the study, Erickson and fellow researchers compared cattle on four diets: a corn-based control diet, WDG plus solubles, modified distillers grains (MDG) plus solubles, and DDG plus solubles. In the latter three diets, distillers grains were fed at 40 percent of the dry matter.

Thomas Gibson and Steve McDonald, Eastern Livestock Companys owner and chief operating officer, were each indicted on one federal charge of mail fraud related to activity from Aug. 9, 2004, to Nov. 2, 2010, that was related to the alleged checkkiting scheme that left more than 700 producers across the country holding $130 million in bad checks.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $19.78 billion fiscal year 2012 Agriculture appropriations bill that provides less discretionary spending than the past two years, but left potential controversial amendments for the Senate floor even though some senators are worried the bill will never come up as an individual piece of legislation.

La Nina describes Pacific Ocean equatorial waters having cooler-than-average temperatures. In the U.S., the weather effects of La Nina include drier conditions in the southern Plains and Midwest, and above-average precipitation during winter in the northern states.

As befits the chairman of the worlds largest food-production company, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe is counting calories. But its not his diet that the chairman and former CEO of Nestle is worried about. Its all the food that the U.S. and Europe are converting into fuel while the worlds poor get hungrier.

At more than 4,100 feet above sea level, the Upper Klamath Lake north of Klamath Falls, OR, is the largest freshwater body in Oregon. The 160-square-mile lake already is naturally high in phosphorous and other nutrients because of historic volcanic activity in the region.

Borrowers can benefit from the economys anxiety! Interest rates are at historic lows, with 10-year Treasuries bouncing under 2 percent in intra-day trading in recent weeks and closing at levels not seen since the 1950s.

The U.S. Department of Labor, responding to a surge in fatal grain-elevator accidents, proposed last Wednesday to ban children under the age of 18 from working around these towering structures which hold massive amounts of crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans.

Although Corn Belt farmers scarcely face the consequences of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) up close, Klamath Basin farmers in Oregon and California say the agriculture industry in other parts of the country should take notice and get organized before a crisis occurs.

In a recent memo to executive branch units, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said requests for discretionary appropriations for FY 2013, which begins Oct. 1, 2012, should be at least 5 percent below what departments and agencies received for FY 2011 unless they have been given specific direction otherwise.

John Harrison agrees weaning and heat are a good way of doubling your problems. The Cairo, GA, producer schedules for an October through December calving season, but that means he weans in June and July. And it doesnt help that cattle are designed without a good radiator.

Highly optimistic for the short term, cautiously so for the longer term, was the mood among the several hundred bankers, agribusiness executives and farmers attending a symposium entitled Recognizing Risk in Global Agriculture at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Reduced weaning weights for calves, lower weight gains on yearlings, summer mastitis and pinkeye theyre all key management points that can mean the difference between a year that ends in the black and one that bleeds red. And at the center of that balance sheet is the lowly fly.

One aspect is how fast deals like this go off. I had a shot at it, because Ive known the owners family since 1985. Otherwise, it would be all over before I had even heard about it, Myers said. Im still in the market for land, but I doubt it will be in Illinois.

Cow production inputs started to skyrocket, explains Theeck, the veteran central Texas cowman. Thats when I realized to survive in the cattle business, I had to learn to do it with one cow to 10 acres with very little supplement or hay, as opposed to one cow to two or three acres as I was doing before.

Feeding corn stalks, corn hay or corn silage to the herd this year could be akin to poisoning your cows. Given extreme drought conditions across much of cattle country, dryland corn crops are more likely to have high levels of nitrates this year. And the first sign of nitrate poisoning is usually dead cattle.

Gary Hill found out the importance of soil testing the hard way. The University of Georgia animal scientist works with Tifton 85 bermudagrass at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, as well as on his own cattle operation. He started noticing stand losses in the highly productive forage.

The small-scale effort has large aims, according to one of the project leaders. Associate Professor Dan Buskirk said in addition to verifying whether the beef came from a local source, shoppers eventually could use a smart phone or kiosk to find out if it came from grass-fed, grain-fed or hormone-free cattle.

The St. Louis, MO-company reported last Wednesday its net income rose to $680 million, or $1.26 per share, for the quarter ended May 31, compared with $384 million, or 70 cents a share, a year ago. It says revenue increased 21 percent to $3.59 billion..

Southeast producers are realizing they need to move their calves to save the cows. In some places, cattlemen are down to little or no forage at all and other feed sources are all in short supply. That report, from John Moseley Jr., marks a shift in the mindset of southeast cattlemen this year and another turning point for the market.

A complex combination of factors seems to bring on the condition. �The incidence of grass tetany is usually highest in the early spring,� says Lemenager. �Grass is lush, vegetative and has a high moisture and fatty acid content. Forages are usually low in magnesium and the soil is high in potassium and nitrogen.

Less than a year ago, $4 corn sounded sweet enough to sell. Many farmers forward contracted only to see futures prices balloon past $7. Thats increasing the temptation to default. Before you do, consider the legal and financial consequences.

More than half of the nations cow herd is struggling to survive through a drought that continues to spread across the southern Plains, and now the Southeast. Its a situation thats left many producers, especially those in Texas and New Mexico, looking for ways to hang on until its time for fall rains to set in.

Arizona sits at the crossroads of two vital issues for two different sectors of agriculture: Produce growers need immigration reform to stay competitive, while ranchers need tighter border security to feel safe.

With May fed cattle supplies hitting highs not seen since 2007, and beef in storage marking a 10-year peak, there are some serious questions in the cattle industry concerning where prices are headed going into the fall. The general consensus on selling feeder cattle: Wait, if you can.

In a signal of the growing unpopularity of farm programs, the House Appropriations Committee last Tuesday approved amendments to the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill to impose stricter income limits on farmers who get commodity payments.

Terry Slusher of Floyd, VA, received a wake-up call several years ago. Slusher sent five steers to a feedlot as part of a commingled truckload in an Extension demonstration project. The Blue Ridge Mountain cattleman expected his calves to be top performers.

Rich Porter thrives on ugly cattle. His order buyers in Georgia and Kentucky sit on their hands as their counterparts compete to outbid each other for the sleek, preconditioned calves that bring top dollar. Then Porters buyers scoop up the scrawny, malnourished and mismanaged bull calves that appear to have more value than they cost.

In response, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) has encouraged USDA to release Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands for emergency haying and grazing. There are about 20 million acres enrolled in conservation practices that are eligible for emergency haying or grazing.

Despite demands to cut farm programs, the chairs of Senate and House agriculture committees say recent natural disasters around the country show the need for continuing strong support for farmers in the 2012 farm bill.

National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) President Jerry Kozak said his group will continue to push its Foundation for the Future plan to revamp the dairy program in Congress, even though dairy processors and some left-leaning dairy and farm groups oppose it.

Youve got to be prepared, says Alice Koupal. If youre not, you can have a disaster. The Dante, SD, rancher should know. Come January and February, when temps are well below zero, this cattle operation is focused on calving chores for the familys 450 to 500 Angus cows.

Midwest farmland values rose for the fourth consecutive quarter, posting the largest increase in two years, as high crop and livestock prices fueled a surge in agricultural income, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said.

Ted Dyer didnt want to keep guessing about the effectiveness of commonly used dewormers in his cattle herd. So last year, the University of Georgia animal scientist conducted a trial on the Northwest Georgia Research and Education Centers weaned calves.

Fillets selling for $75 a pound? Ribeyes going for $50 a pound? How about ground beef priced from $7.50 to $14 a pound? Go to the Internet and click Wagyu (or Kobe) beef and you might think producers of this specialty beef cattle have discovered the road to riches.

The number of veterinarians who work with cows, pigs, chickens and other farm animals is on the decline as many prepare to retire and fewer students opt for large animal practice, results from a recent study showed.

Most American beef travels a familiar, traditional trail from pasture to plate. Here and there, though, some producers have chosen a road less traveled to meet the more specific needs and wants of consumers.

The Red Angus Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) raised $28,000 through the auction of seven signed and numbered prints of Tim Coxs limited-edition Where Change Comes Slowly piece during the 2010 Red Angus Association of America (RAAA) national convention in Springfield, MO.

While some areas of the U.S. are experiencing drought conditions that have dried up pastures and forced livestock producers to feed hay weeks earlier than usual, the overall outlook for hay supplies does not seem to be quite as severe.

For Troy Ellis, winter feeding is all about holding the line on body condition and making sure cows and heifers are in good shape for a round of AI work by mid- November. But this year, it's looking to be a more expensive proposition.

Cow/calf producers and backgrounders who can hold onto animals a little longer and add forage-based pounds should be in a sweet spot to sell going into 2011. Corn prices, spurred ahead by lower-than-expected production and a drop in carryout, will now encourage feeders to opt for heavier animals than they may have wanted just a month ago.

The panel discussion, part of a CME Group Inc. conference on global financial leadership in Naples, FL, comes as the debate over food versus fuel returns. The issue had been dormant for much of the past two years, but heated up again in recent weeks as corn prices reached two-year highs.

Farmers could harvest sizable tax write-offs in a new small-business law giving extra incentives for end-of-year equipment and truck purchases. The U.S. House approved the legislation Sept. 24 following Senate action earlier this fall, and President Barack Obama signed it into law last Monday.

In Texas, there are a lot of good reasons for landowners to keep pasture rental rates steady. One of the biggest is called an agricultural use exemption and without it, landowners can see property taxes go up about tenfold.

One minute past midnight, Dec. 31, 2010, the amount of taxes your heirs will pay goes from zero to a top rate of 55 percent. Would that be enough of a tax bill to drop the ax on the farm as family members are forced to sell a lifetime of work off in pieces to pay Uncle Sam?.

The index aims to take the pulse of the agricultural economy. Its based on a survey of 500 producers picked at random to reflect the demographic makeup of the 2007 USDA Ag Census. The survey is conducted three times a yearbefore planting, before harvest, and at years end.

China has imposed anti-subsidy duties for five years on imports of U.S. chicken products after concluding producers received improper support, the Commerce Ministry said last Wednesday amid a string of trade spats with Washington.

U.S. farm exports are forecast to increase to $113 billion in fiscal year 2011, the second-largest total on record, amid reduced competition from Russia and neighboring countries hit by drought, the Agriculture Department said last Tuesday..

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week released a draft clean water strategy that outlines plans for new rules and other initiatives the agency says will prevent water quality from degrading, bet- ter manage pollution from animal...

When Loren Greenfields family built Hilltop Dairy in 2002, they had a lot of early labor help from the surrounding community. High school and college students came to help milk at first, but local workers quickly disappeared.

Monsanto Co. said last week they will nearly double their investments into an already established joint venture to develop biotech crops, expanding their efforts to include a focus on wheat, a key food crop that as yet has no commercialized biotech variety.

When Loren Greenfields family built Hilltop Dairy in 2002, they had a lot of early labor help from the surrounding community. High school and college students came to help milk at first, but local workers quickly disappeared.

Monsanto Co. said last week they will nearly double their investments into an already established joint venture to develop biotech crops, expanding their efforts to include a focus on wheat, a key food crop that as yet has no commercialized biotech variety.

A vote in the U.S. Senate to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from going it alone in battling carbon dioxide emissions was deemed destined to fail last week without new last-minute support, according to congressional and private-sector sources.

The Senate is set to vote next month on permanently stopping the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating pollution linked to global warming from factories, utilities and oil refineries, a spokesman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski said last Tuesday.

One of the statistics people forget is how much farmland is owned by folks who do not farm it. Throughout the central Midwest, 50 percent or better is owned by people who do not farm it. Its all land that is leased to farmers either custom farmed, share cropped or cash rent, Farrell said.

Although the federal estate tax law is currently in congressional limbo, its still important to plan for your farms succession. For those who die in 2010, Congress has eliminated the federal estate taxjust for one year.

Japanese and U.S. officials will meet soon, perhaps as early as this month, for the first in a series of planned sessions to discuss improving beef trade between the two countries, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said last Tuesday..

Entomologists are concerned about high numbers of pasture-eating grasshoppers this year, though the extent of the infestation wont be known until late May or early June, according to Bob Wright, entomologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincolns (UNL) Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Changing fluids and filters in your tractor is an important, sometimes overlooked, duty. Lets face it; its a pain. There is some significant cost to doing this maintenance, but it is money well spentand not all that much compared to the cost of a blown engine or replacing a transmission with gears ground to shards of scrap metal.

The value of new opportunities for our businesses, workers, farmers and ranchers remains vague because of the broad flexibilities available to key emerging markets like China, India, and Brazil, that are fastgrowing economies and important markets of the future, he said.

EPA said late last year it would require coal plants, refineries and other heavy industrial facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons a year of greenhouse gases to obtain permits demonstrating they were using the best available technology to reduce emissions.

The advanced biofuel industry is pressing Congress to approve a 30 percent investment tax credit that it says is needed to help jumpstart production necessary to meet a national renewable fuel mandate.

The scrapping of the national animal identification (ID) system in the U.S. simply means that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack recognizes that some things can be better handled on a state-by-statenot nationalbasis, according to U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) President Phil Seng.

The House Agriculture Committee voted unanimously last Wednesday to tell the House Budget Committee not to cut any agriculture programs in the fiscal year 2011 budget, but House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-MN, said he will still move forward with his plan to consider cuts if Congress should go through the reconciliation process.

CME Group Inc. will launch futures contracts for distillers dried grains (DDGs), a byproduct of corn ethanol production that can be used to feed animals, the exchange operator said last week. Trading in the DDGs con- tracts will start on April 26.

Hog farmers, on the front lines of the $16 billion U.S. hog industry, have struggled with low prices for two years. Higher feed costs due to problems with the corn crop could cause a reduction in the amount of pork on the market due to both a drop in profitability and the slower hog growth rates.

Profitability in the unit that makes Deeres green tractors and harvesters was especially impressive, reporting margins of nearly 10 percentthree times what investors had expected, according to Eli Lustgarten, an analyst at Longbow Securities..

U.S. farmers can expect a record corn crop, another huge soybean harvest, and strong demand for its exports, which should combine to produce strong incomes for the agriculture sector this year, USDA said in its latest forecast.

The ethanol industry could face the same difficulties hitting biodiesel producers if Congress doesnt extend the 45-cent blenders tax credit by the end of 2010, the president of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) said last Tuesday.

Agco, which makes farm equipment under the Massey Ferguson, Challenger, Fendt and Valtra brand names, said it believed Europe and North America were stabilizing, but it still needed to reduce inventories in those markets by idling some facilities..

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-MN, has cosponsored a House bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act.

A desire to continually improve Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) on their operations while successfully encouraging others around them to implement BQA was evident this week as two producers were honored with the annual national BQA award which was...

Biofuels makers have been waiting for the rules which are designed to implement a 2007 law that mandated an ever-increasing amount of biofuels be added to transportation fuel. This year, 12.95 billion gallons of renewable fuel must be part of the supply, up almost 17 percent from last year.

USDA trimmed its food inflation forecast for 2010, projecting prices at grocery stores and restaurants will rise at the same rate. USDA lowered the con- sumer price index for all food to gain 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent from its December forecast of 3 percent to 4 percent.

If you want to talk to a beef producer who really knows how to manage pastures, you cant do much better than Missouris John Wood. Forages are more than just one part of his herds feed regime; they are the only part.

With the potential of higher production costs and shift in crop acreage, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) shifted its position last Wednesday to oppose the House climate legislation that passed last June.

Cargill Chairman and Chief Executive Greg Page noted the agribusiness gi ants earnings in the first half of the fiscal year were up 50 percent from the last half of the previous fiscal year amid cost controls and tapping both developed and faster-growing emerging markets.

The correlation between the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the monthly close of the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index (which tracks a basket of commodities) is a very strong 93 percent, and between the dollar and the CRB is a negative 99 percent, Newsom said.

Russia, which does not belong to the WTO, lowered its quota for U.S. poultry this year. But industry officials believe the chlorine issue will be worked out because Russia cannot yet produce enough to meet its needs..

Cruising down a two-lane blacktop where the Catlow Rim drops down into a broad valley of sagebrush and bunchgrass, ranch manager Stacy Davies pulls his pickup over to let pass a herd of young bulls being trailed along the road by a couple of his buckaroos, as ranch hands are called here.

Often, wills have been written with an expectation the estate tax structure that has been in place for years would continue, estate planners say. The wills typically direct that assets that are not subject to estate tax be passed on to childrenfor 2009, up to $3.

The new Taiwanese ban is showing little impact on U.S. exports, though U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) spokesman Joe Schuele said it was because there is virtually no ground beef market in Taiwan for U.S. exporters and Taiwanese demand for offal is light at best.

Cellulosic-ethanol production, a cornerstone of the U.S. governments plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, is earmarked to overtake corn ethanol over the next decade. But the industrys expected takeoff could be delayed by a year.

As much as 100 million bushels of U.S. corn could be lost after heavy snowstorms in recent days likely delayed until spring the final stages of an already historically slow harvest, analysts and meteorologists said last Monday..

If landowners plant trees to the extent the model suggests, this would be disruptive to agriculture in some regions of the country, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. I dont believe the results ... are necessarily an accurate depiction of the impacts of climate legislation.

When charting a course for long-term sustainability in agriculture, farmers face the challenges of doubling world food production while coming to grips with the environmental framework needed to address climate change, a key executive from Deere Co.

Nebraska is predicted to harvest the states largest corn crop in history this year, with a total production of nearly 1.6 billion bushels on a record yield of 178 bushels per acre. Yet, getting that crop in the bin is proving to be a challenge, according to a news release from the Nebraska Corn Board (NCB).

Rancher Polly Rex characterized the exemption as a loophole that could ultimately rob her of the means to grow hay and water her livestock. Rex said a subdivision of more than 60 homes going up next to her Absarokee, MT, ranch could eventually draw down the natural springs she uses on an adjacent 1,250-acre field.

Lawmakers divided largely along party lines last Wednesday at a House hearing on agriculture and climate change while USDAs chief economist tried to emphasize that while climate legislation would increase costs to producers, those expenses would be gradual over several decades.

A coalition of 50 farm and agriculture groups is asking the Obama administration to almost double the USDA budget for competitive research grants to $500 million in its fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress.

In a normal El Ni o event, the combination of warmer than normal equatorial Pacific temperatures and a west-to-east subtropical jet stream component results in more generous wintertime precipitation in the southern third of the U.S.from south-central Kansas south through Texas, and east to Georgia and Florida.

Grim financials for dairy and pork producers were casting a pall over proceedings of the National Agricultural Bankers Conference in San Antonio, TX, last week. For the first time in 25 years, sessions were concentrating on topics such as organizing loan workouts, handling bankruptcies, and stresstesting loan portfolios.

The unseasonably wet and cool fall may leave dairy producers scrambling to find their supplies of dairy-quality hay for winter.Just as farmers have struggled to get row crops out of the field because of the rain and snow this fall, alfalfa growers also have found it difficult to get their last cuttings of alfalfa dried and put up, especially with the quality needed for dairy cattle, according to Dr.

A recall of more than 500,000 pounds of ground beef, for E. coli 0157:H7, has now been linked to two deaths, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. More than 28 people have also been sickened by the tainted product. The first fatality was reported in

The latest, and perhaps most profit-crushing, agricultural barrier thrown up this year by China is a ban on U.S. pork, but China also bans U.S. beef and has done so for years. In addition, China continues to threaten U.S. chicken exports in a complicated feud with the U.

The U.S. dairy industry is really several related industries, with high levels of specialization by area of the country. The traditional northeastern and midwestern producers frequently focus on fluid milk productionthe cartons seen in supermarkets.

The potential is still there for enrollment in fiscal year 2010, Coppess told a House Agriculture subcommittee. While were waiting on the regulation ... were evaluating that as well. We wont be able to put anything forward on the general sign-up until we have the proper regulation out.

A new study of atrazines effects on human health will begin this fall, with most of the review occurring in 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last Wednesday. It is unlikely changes in the atrazine label would affect the 2010 spring application season.

When terrorist attacks engulfed Manhattans financial district on Sept. 11, 2001, the New York Federal Reserve staff slept on their desks and survived on cheese sandwiches for several days just a block from the ash and burning rubble of the World Trade Center.

Financial influenza could be spreading through farm country later this fall. While only a tiny fraction of all farm loans have been affected to date, the pork and dairy industries have eroded huge portions of their lifetime equity in the last year and face a wave of restructurings or forced sales in the next few months.

It is taken on faith that this years farmland rental rateswhich hit $500 per acre in a few cases in Illinoisreflect last years economy at least, if not the past couple of years. Landlords nearly everywhere set higher rental rates this year because 2008s crop income was so good.

Proposed food safety legislation calls for a full history of the food. That means every point in the supply chain, from the feed additive producers to the retailers who sell consumers their dinner, will have to communicate with each other about every step in the creation, production, packaging and transport of that product.

Nebraskas two U.S. senators and three representatives sent a letter to USDA requesting funds to compensate a Rock County, NE, rancher for culling his herd after several cattle in the herd contracted bovine tuberculosis (TB).

Talks are starting among cattle and meatpacker groups over possible changes to the beef checkoff. The American Farm Bureau Federation hosted a meeting last Tuesday in Washington for several groups to explain their individual policies and review recommendations laid out in January to the U.

The U.S. beef industry could lose $13.2 billion a year in market access overseas if a more robust livestock tracking system is not adopted, a study released by the Agriculture Department said last Wednesday. The report, written by university researchers, said the international market expects exporters to have animal identification and tracing systems.

Senatorial holds placed on the nomination of Gary Gensler to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are increasing Wall Streets power to stop efforts to boost regulation of credit default swaps and other derivatives, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-MN, said last Tuesday.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack sat down last Wednesday to listen to opinions from livestock and meat industry representatives on what direction they believe the government should take in improving its animal identification and tracking program.

South Korea has reclaimed its position as the No. 3 market for U.S. beef after lifting a five-year ban put in place following the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. in 2003. Industry sources expect sales to South Korea to continue rising in coming months amid some stability in the currency markets and as the cookout season begins.

Barring any unforeseen weather factors, the coming growing season should be favorable for alfalfa, according to Dr. Bruce Anderson, professor of agronomy at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Conditions are good for a pretty favorable growing season so far, Anderson said.